Gary Shamay: Upward, Ever Upward

Published: December 20, 2001

Gary Shamay was a young man on his way up. After graduating at 16 from Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn, he plunged into the corporate workplace at an age when most of his peers were far from making career decisions.

By Sept. 11, he was 23, and had already made his mark as a computer specialist, working for Allstate Insurance, Deutsche Bank, CIBC Oppenheimer and, since August 2000, Cantor Fitzgerald. He was single and living with his parents in Mill Basin, but his work assignments had taken him to Cantor's offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and other cities.

"We were very proud of him," said Mr. Shamay's mother, Zoya Shamay, who said his career goals centered on his computer skills. While working long hours in the office, sometimes starting as early as 5:30 a.m., he was completing college course work at night toward a bachelor's degree in computer engineering.

Mr. Shamay was born in Uzbekistan, and immigrated to Brooklyn when he was 2 years old with Mrs. Shamay and her husband, Benjamin. He had two younger brothers, ages 16 and 8, for whom "he always had advice," his mother said.